ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® announced
that two of its standards projects have been selected for the CESpec
program, which features important industry standards at the 2014
International CES®. The projects address safe use of portable
electronics while driving and implementation of IPv6 in consumer
electronics (CE) products. Owned and produced by CEA, CES is the world’s
gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer
technologies and will run January 7-10 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The CESpec program aims to draw worldwide attention to important, new
industry standards at CES. Standards selected for the 2014 CESpec
program are expected to be completed by the 2015 International CES.

“We are delighted to have our important work on safe driving and IPv6
featured in the CESpec program. CEA formed both groups to address
critical issues impacting our industry,” said Brian Markwalter, senior
vice president of research and standards at CEA. “The safe driving
working group efforts are encouraging the development of products that
reduce the amount of time a driver must look away from the road as an
alternative to regulating every possible distraction. The IPv6 working
group was instrumental in bringing the industry together to ensure a
seamless transition for businesses and consumers alike as the supply of
IPv4 addresses becomes exhausted.”

Twenty-nine organizations joined CEA’s Driver Device Interface Working
Group in June to develop industry standards and/or best practices for
designing CE products to help maximize driver safety while in the car.
The working group is chaired by James Tranchina, vice president of
engineering at Voxx International. The group is collaborating on a
recommended practice titled, “Guidelines for Reducing Visual-Manual
Driver Distraction during Interactions with Portable or Handheld
Electronic Devices.”

“I am thrilled that our efforts to address driver distraction have been
selected for the CESpec program,” said Tranchina. “The work we’re doing
is important to all drivers and featuring it at the largest annual
tradeshow in the U.S. will help us get the word out.”

Fifteen organizations joined CEA in 2011 to form the IPv6 Working Group.
The group coordinates CE manufacturers, service providers and retailers
activities as the Internet transitions from IPv4 addressing to IPv6
ensuring Internet-enabled devices continue to operate without
interruption. It is expected to result in a standard that defines
necessary feature sets for several levels of IPv6 support, creating
profiles for Basic, Basic-plus and Advanced IPv6-capable devices.

The simplest networking devices such as network printers, alarms and
home automation systems are Basic devices that will support a limited
set of IPv6 features. More Internet capability is appropriate for the
Basic-plus profile group: optical disc players, game consoles, smart TVs
and media servers. Advanced devices are those that need the most
Internet capability and include PCs, tablets and smartphones.

The IPv6 Working Group is co-chaired by Hans Liu, director of software
architecture at D-Link Systems Inc. and Dan Torbet, director of system
engineering at ARRIS.

“IPv6 is the next generation of Internet protocol, and it’s being rolled
out throughout the Web,” said Liu. “Our goal is to help speed this
transition by providing guidance to consumer equipment manufacturers to
ensure their products make maximum use of IPv6.”

“The more IPv6 capability is implemented in consumer products, the more
efficiently Internet service can be delivered to consumers,” said
Torbet. “We’re very happy to have this project featured as a CESpec and
we look forward to demonstrating our work next year.”

CEA leads technology manufacturers in fostering CE industry growth by
developing industry standards and technical specifications that enable
new products to come to market and encourage interoperability with
existing devices. CEA’s Technology & Standards program maintains an
unmatched reputation as an effective and flexible standards making body
accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). For more
information on Technology and Standards at CEA and how to get involved,
please visit CE.org/standards.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the technology trade
association representing the $203 billion U.S. consumer electronics
industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA
membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical
training and education, industry promotion, standards development and
the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and
produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All
profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA
online at www.CE.org,
www.DeclareInnovation.com
and through social
media.